Game of Thrones (Con't)

This series has been touted as “the next Lord of the Rings,” it’s author as “the next Tolkein,” but anyone who’s read the books or watched the show can tell you Westeros is an entirely different animal than Middle Earth.

Martin is infamous among his fans for subjecting his characters to extreme violence and horrible situations, and the team behind the HBO show has made it clear they aren’t pulling their punches either. This is a medieval historical saga with a dash of fantasy and heaps of graphic torture, sex, and death. Therefore it only appeals to men.

Wait, what?

Well, according to this article (http://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/why-girls-hate-game-of-thrones), girls hate HBO’s Game of Thrones. There is too much icky blood, nerdy magic, and we’re too stupid to follow the complex plots and storylines. Responses to Renata Sellitti’s article have been overwhelmingly negative and for good reason. Reddit user LadyVagrant sums it up nicely: “Besides starting from a false premise, the author is projecting her likes and dislikes onto all women and reinforcing half a dozen sexist stereotypes in the process.”

Is the show gory? Yeah. But if we as a gender were so squeamish about blood and pain, we’d have bigger problems to deal with than this show.

Is there a lot of nudity? Indeed. But it’s HBO. You’re pretty much guaranteed a helping of nudity and sex—involving both genders—in any of their shows.

Is the story complex with an enormous cast? Definitely. But it makes more sense than the plot of any daytime soap opera, which is likely to be ten times as convoluted. (And involve just as much sex.)

Is this a fantasy story with magic and dragons? Sure. It also has kings and queens and knights and ladies. It has politics and backstabbing and love and revenge. There’s something for everyone.

If anything, this series highlights women. The women of this world are not dolls in dresses or maidens trapped in towers awaiting rescue. They are proactive, determined, and resourceful. Martin provides a wonderfully diverse set of strong female characters in a very male-dominant world. Warriors, politicians, rulers, schemers, seers, femme fatales… the list is long and the women admirable.

I love blood and guts. I love the uncertainty surrounding the well-being of my favorite characters. I love medieval settings and courtly politics. I love complex stories that challenge me to think. I love this series, both on page and on screen. And I’m a girl.